Jiang proposes absentee voting in 2016

‘STARTING POINT’:The DPP said that the KMT’s sudden promotion of absentee voting, first in referendums and now in general elections, was politically motivated

By Chris Wang / Staff reporter

DPP politicians, including former premier Yu Shyi-kun, said the KMT’s absentee voting initiative was a strategy for the 2016 presidential election as the mechanism would allow overseas Taiwanese to vote without returning to the country.

Yu said he supported domestic absentee voting, but opposed its implementation for overseas nationals, in particular Taiwanese nationals in China, who are most likely under Beijing’s influence and would seek to interfere in elections.

If the KMT wanted to include absentee voting, it should also amend referendum laws “instead of only amending the regulations that benefit the KMT,” Yu said.

DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) warned that even if the mechanism was implemented domestically, military personnel, police and prisoners are likely to be influenced by the ruling party.

Jiang did not include referendums in a discussion of the absentee voting mechanism in 2010, when he served as the interior minister, DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) said.

“That suggests that the KMT’s initiative is politically motivated,” she added.